President Trump is again promising a too-good-to-be-true federal health care policy plan, but no details, of course.

“We will create a great health care system based on honesty, transparency, more options, and far lower costs for much better care,” Trump said Tuesday when he kicked off his re-election campaign at an Orlando rally.

That should sound familiar. It is what he promised during the 2016 election. Yet, during the first two years in office when his Republican Party controlled the House and Senate, Trump did not deliver. His administration never produced a plan, leaving that to Congress. What congressional Republicans did come up with, but failed to pass, would have cut off insurance to millions.

The New York Times reports that in the runup to the 2020 election the president wants to yet again take on the Democrats in debating health care. Republican leaders in Congress, however, would just as soon he leave it alone, fearing the debate would help the Democrats. They want to instead focus on illegal immigration and the economy.

We’re with the president on this one. Health care must be part of the campaign discussion. Access to health care and the high cost is a big issue for Americans and for American business. But it would help the debate to see that plan Trump has now been talking about for several years.

Democrats, of course, must settle on their own approach to health care policy. Proposals range from a single-payer, government-run program being branded as “Medicare for all;” to allowing older Americans, perhaps 50 and up, to opt-in to Medicare; to building upon the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The candidates vying for the nomination in the large field of Democratic presidential primary candidates need to define where they stand.

As for now, the Trump administration’s only firm position is to back a lower court’s ruling which, if upheld on appeal, would toss out Obamacare entirely as unconstitutional and take away its protections that assure Americans with a history of medical issues can find insurance, that allow children to stay on family insurance to age 26, that require basic preventive care, and that expanded Medicaid to millions more lower income Americans.

If he wants to take away all that, Trump better have an alternative.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.